Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tax averaging is available to farmers to even out what can be uneven incomes that come from farming, particularly in terms of prices and sales. It is also available in the context of the two payments farmers are due to receive.

This is the first time a decision to offer an interim payment has been made by a Minister. I am taking this approach because I understand the importance of ensuring that farmers are paid. By the end of the month, every farmer who participated in ACRES last year will have been paid. Some will receive €4,000 and others will receive €5,000. A number will be paid more than their due because we are paying this as a standard payment. I wanted to make sure the payment was as high as possible for farmers in order to ensure that they would get a good sum of money into their accounts early, and by February. In some instances, it will have to be balanced out earlier. However, it will be a unique situation whereby farmers will be paid too early and will have to pay some money back, rather than, as normally is the case, waiting for payments to come into their accounts. Every farmer will get a payment. In some cases, farmers will get more of the payment than they otherwise would have been due earlier.

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